1. The Field of the Invention comprises devices and equipment for cooling heat-producing electrical and electronic components, including apparatus that incorporates heat sinks and heat pipes.
2. Heretofore, a heat-producing component, such as a power semiconductor, has been cooled by compressively engaging it between two low cost aluminum units of a heat sink, each unit comprising a web or wall having fins extending therefrom. With semiconductors being made of greater and greater power, and thus capable of emitting more and more heat, these conventional heat sinks have been found to be less than adequate, permitting the semiconductors to reach such high temperatures as to result in a decreased service life. Copper heat sinks are better but are much more expensive, and in many instances their use cannot be justified. According to the patent application identified above, aluminum heat sinks are proposed which incorporate at a critical location a small quantity of copper in the form of a copper plug, thus combining the low cost advantage of aluminum and the high performance of copper.
In the present invention, a vapor chamber, having substantially the outward appearance of said copper plug, is used to absorb heat from the component and thus cool the same. The absorbed heat vaporizes a working agent in the chamber, and the vaporized agent is then condensed, either inside or outside the chamber, to liberate heat of condensation, which is dissipated. An advantage is that the vaporized agent may be condensed at a distance from the chamber, thus allowing the component to be separated from the point at which the heat is dissipated; and from a practical standpoint this means that the component can be cooled even while it is enclosed within a cabinet. But if desired, and as noted, the vaporized agent can also be condensed inside the chamber.